Michigan Little League Team Accused of Cheating After Big Wins

A Michigan Little League team from Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores, the Great Lakes representative in the Little League World Series, was accused of cheating by a team they beat in the state championship tournament. They were also accused of cheating by the team from New Albany, Indiana, that they beat 13-0 in the Great Lakes regional championship.

The losing teams think Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores is using players that are ineligible to play.

Justin Endres, the New Albany Little League president, stressed he has no direct evidence that cheating occurred, but he wanted to make sure his kids got a fair shake. "We just forwarded the stuff on. We're not even in the position to know," he explained. "That's the hard part of it. The high stakes set up an opportunity for some of this."

New Albany was the victim of cheating in 2014. They lost in the Great Lakes regional championship game to a team from Chicago that was using players from outside of their district. It's easy to understand how they would be concerned about cheating, but also disappointing to see them throw out accusations after a big loss. Was New Albany set to accuse any team that beat them of cheating? Did the lopsided final score lead to the accusation?

It's not the first time Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores has been accused. Dan Bentley, a Little League coach from Michigan, told the IndyStar he requested a review of the Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores team after Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores won the Michigan state championship. He said, "You get a team that good and there's gonna be speculation."

Little Little has investigated the Grosse Pointe Woods-Shores team and they have found nothing wrong.

If a team beats you, step one is to accuse them of cheating? That seems to be what's happening here.

Cheating happens, from illegal bats to residency cover-ups. Unnecessary accusations happen too, it's just a sad part of the game at this point.